We tend to think that this is a superior system for the mod author because they get 100% of the money. However, it has been shown that the donations are often very small and the vast majority don't donate at all.

Even at 25% the mod authors on steam have gotten more money for their work than a donate button. Do the shitty broken mods deserve that? Probably not. Is it unfair that a portion goes to Valve? If we circlejerk being the little man fighting the power then sure. But at the end of the day the modders get more money than they would do otherwise.

We cannot simultaneously think that mod authors should be supported for their work but then never donate because we think everyone else will donate. Yes, the system is flawed but we cannot allow our visceral gut emotions stick labels on things and then start crusades against them.

Free mods still exist. Valve is not dictating that mods must be on the workshop. Bethesda is not dictating that mods must be on the workshop. These are assumptions that we have jumped to because we make the assumption that "lol big company make money fuck them" when the concept isn't actually too unreasonable. It is Bethesda's game and it is their creation kit that we use so it is reasonable that they want a cut of it. Perhaps their cut is too large but the concept isn't automatically evil because of that.

Let us not deal in absolutes. This is a step in the wrong direction and if someone wants to oppose it they have valid reasons to but we cannot ignore the facts (or invent new ones) in order to support our narrative of the Big Evil Company. Such arguments are easily dismissed and make any reasonable discussion impossible.